Vanguard holds strong in thrilling Rose Bowl showdown

PASADENA, Calif. — Performing on one of the season’s grandest stages, Santa Clara Vanguard did the same thing it’s done, without fail, since exiting the Rose Bowl a year ago: Win.

The Northern California corps stayed undefeated through the first full week of the 2019 season, besting the Blue Devils by a narrow margin Saturday night at the Drum Corps at the Rose Bowl DCI Tour event.

“It was incredible. The most recent changes we made in the show, it’s been so much developing and adding,” Vanguard drum major Andrew Arbouzov said. “The group has been so fantastic with adding stuff with incredible energy right out of the gate.

“I’m not going to lie, I looked around the gate while Blue Devils were performing, looked at the crowd and was like, ‘That’s incredible.’ It’s unlike anything I’ve seen up until this point on tour.”

 1. Santa Clara Vanguard » 78.550
 2. Blue Devils » 78.150
 3. The Cavaliers » 75.850

Vanguard’s Saturday win was its fifth of the season and fourth against the Blue Devils, but the margin has continued to remain slim. At its 2019 debut show in Clovis, SCV beat the Concord corps by 0.65 points. The separation between Saturday’s victor and runner-up was just four tenths of a point.

Blue Devils’ ability to keep things tight in Pasadena could certainly be attributed to a long stretch of unadulterated rehearsal time. Saturday marked the corps’ first show in six days, allowing the 18-time champions a chance to dubiously clean their show before heading down the California coast.

“The show that we performed a week ago is a completely different show,” Blue Devils drum major Everett Kim said. “We are so excited. We put so many changes in. As the season goes on, that’s how it is every weekend; we come up with something new, we change something, and it’s always getting better.”

The Blue Devils had an edge in the visual and music captions but fell below Vanguard in general effect. After having finished below The Cavaliers in music in each of their meetings to date, the Concord corps pushed ahead of the Green Machine in all captions Saturday night.

Learn more about The Cavaliers' first trip to California since 2007

 4. Blue Knights » 72.900
 5. Mandarins » 71.850
 6. The Academy » 67.200

Friday night’s show in Vista was also 2019’s first look at the Blue Knights, who finished nearly a point and a half better than the Mandarins, effectively continuing one of the more intriguing head-to-head matchups from last season.

Blue Knights and Mandarins finished ninth and 10th, respectively, at last year’s DCI World Championships; despite the fact the Sacramento-based corps came within three tenths at the Semifinals, the head-to-head battle has largely remained one-sided in terms of wins and losses.

Still seeking their first victory over the Blue Knights, Mandarins improved upon their score at 2018’s Pasadena event by more than two points. Mandarins pushed ahead of the Devner corps in visual, but the Blue Knights held their main advantage in the music and general effect captions.

“That was awesome,” Blue Knights drum major Daniel Belcher said following the corps’ performance. “We took an extra week of spring training so this is only our second show but what an awesome venue for a second show. Such a historic stadium for DCI. Coming in right as the sun was setting, that was an awesome feeling.”

Not far behind that pair, though, was The Academy. In 2019, the Tempe, Arizona corps has shown notable improvement, bolstering their score by just under half a point from last season’s show at the Rose Bowl.

Learn more about The Academy's 2019 program

“It is awesome to perform in such a big place.” drum major Sierra Rogers said. “It’s great to have that crowd there; it’s great to get their reactions in real time. We’ve been really pushing our dynamic range and our versatility and our finesse.”

 7. Troopers » 63.250
 8. Pacific Crest » 61.850
 9. Genesis » 58.150

Also making its first performance Friday night in Vista was Pacific Crest, the host corps in Pasadena. With a loud and energetic home crowd behind them, the southern California corps defeated Troopers in music and tied the Casper corps in visual.

“It’s amazing,” Pacific Crest drum major Bianca Dulong said. “We feel so much love right now.”

Genesis rounded out the Pasadena World Class lineup with a score of 58.150, an improvement of three quarters of a point from Friday’s event.

 1. Gold » 55.700
 2. Golden Empire » 52.650

With a clean sweep of all captions, Gold triumphed over a six-corps Open Class field in Pasadena.

Runner-up Golden Empire finished less than a point behind Gold in both the general effect and visual captions, but the latter used an impressive music tally to shoot ahead of the Bakersfield corps by more than three points.

“In this past week since last weekend there’s been a lot of cleaning happening on the show,” Gold tenor drummer Chris Eastmead said. “We’ve had the full show out for awhile now, and we’ve spent a lot of time working on small chunks over and over again making sure things are perfect.”

Carrying a 2018 bronze medal into a unique and wide-open Open Class landscape in 2019, Gold certainly has high hopes for the season ahead. Golden Empire is also looking to improve upon last year’s results, having earned a spot in the Open Class Finals in their inaugural trip to the DCI World Championships.

 3. Vessel » 49.750
 4. Watchmen » 46.950
 5. Impulse » 43.600
 6. Incognito » 40.850

Watchmen was arguably the biggest mover in the Open Class ranks from Friday to Saturday, tightening its distance from Vessel by just over a point. Watchmen defeated Vessel in overall music at Saturday’s event, but Vessel took third in all other captions while nearly cracking the 50-point threshold in its first-ever trip to Pasadena.

Learn more about Vessel's 2019 program, "Here, There, Everywhere"

“It was our first time here as a corps, so it was so much fun, just the crowd and having such a big place to fill with so much energy,” Vessel drum major Sofia Vaides said. “It was such a great run for us and we just had a lot of fun.”

Utilizing music from Pixar’s “The Incredibles” and Marvel’s “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse,” Impulse topped Incognito by just under three points for fifth place. Saturday marked Incognito’s first time breaking 40 points on the young season.

Learn more about Incognito's 2019 program, "The Muse"

“I mean, the energy from the crowd gave us energy to keep going,” said David Alvarado, Impulse’s drum major. “That was just an incredible feeling when the crowd’s jumping up for them and all their work.”

Learn more about Impulse's 2019 program, "The Greatest Hero"

All 15 corps from Saturday’s Rose Bowl event will make their way south on Sunday to San Bernardino to round out the second weekend of the 2019 season.

View the 2019 DCI Tour schedule

gallery-2019-drum-corps-at-the-rose-bowl